Conveyor devices for cigarettes or the like



CONVEYOR nsvrcss FOR CIGARETTES OR THE LIKE Filed Feb. 12. 1957 Sept. 1,19'59 M. PIOLLMANN 2 Sheets-Sheer. 1

W \\\\\\V\\\\\\\\\N 1 Sept. 1, 1959 M. POLLMANN 7 I CONVEYOR DEVICES FORCIGARETTES OR THE LIKE Filed Feb. 12. 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet. 2

INVENTOR! J [ax :;0Z( man I BY I by United States Patent 2,902,140CONVEYOR DEVICES FOR crcxnnrrns e on THE LIKE 11 Claims. (Cl. 19825) Thepresent invention relates to conveyor devices suitable for conveyingrod-like articles, such as cigarettes, and particularly to a systemwherein articles are fed to or removed from fluted drums by means oftrough chains.

Trough chains are sometimes used on their own for conveyance purposes,for example for feeding or delivering cirgarettes or otherrod-like-articles coming from -a magazine; similar chains are also knownin the cigarette industry which operate in the same way as fluted drums,for example for producing filter mouthpiece cigarettes, in which thecigarettes are fed axially towards the mouthpiece, or conversely, in thegrooves of such chains and the groups so formed are joined together attheir butting points.

The object of the present invention is a transfer device or conveyancesystem employing a trough chain which transfers cigarettes or otherarticles to or from a fluted drum by the fact that the chain partiallyencircles said drum; for example to deliver cigarettes from a cigaretterod machine or cigarettes disposed on a first fluted drum, to a furtherfluted drum serving for oining these cigarettes with ,filtermouthpieces. In this latter case the chains partially encircle both thedrum supplying the cigarettesor the like and the drum to be suppliedwith the cigarettes or the like. In either case the parts are soarranged that the cigarettes or other articles are picked up from and/ordeposited on the fluted drums with a smooth and disturbance-free action.

According to the invention this is obtained by the fact that the chainwheels of the trough chain are in each case arranged coaxially to thefluted drums and the flute spacing of the drums is larger by a suitableamount than the spacing of the grooves of the trough chain when disposedin a straight line.

One constructional example is shown on the accompanying drawings fortransferring cigarettes coming from chains.

Two endless trough chains 1, 1 (Fig. 1) arranged with a spacing Abetween them as shown in Fig. 2 are driven respectively by chain wheels2, 2 of the cigarette rod machine and are guided on the filter cigarettemachine side by chain or sprocket wheels 3, 3' respectively (see alsoFig. 2). consist of individual trough links M, M which embody on theirlower side in each case two rollers R, R of a roller chain and areconnected together by chain links L, L'. The two chain wheels 2, 2 aresecured on a The trough chains 1 and 1- 2,902,140 Patented Sept. 1, 1959spindle coaxial with the known delivery drum arranged beyond the cuttingdevice of the cigarette rod machine,-

and are composed of a centre drum section and two sidepart drum sectionsas described hereinafter for the fluted drum of the filter cigarettemachine.

The two chain wheels 3, 3' (Fig. 2) together with the two toothed discs4, 4' and the fluted centre part 5 of the drum are secured to a shaft 6of the filter cigarette machine, so that the parts 4, 4' and 5 form atwo-part fluted drum operating as a magazine drum and the two chainwheels in each caseare disposed between the outer toothed discs 4, 4'and the centre part 5 of the drum. The shaft 6 runs in a sleeve 7 of themachine frame 8 and a gear wheel 9 drives the remaining parts of thefilter cigarette machine (not otherwise shown) in the usual way.

When the trough chains 1, 1 (Fig. 1) move away from the two deliverydrums of the cigarette rod machine in each case a cigarette Z, Z ispicked up by the trough 10, 10' (Fig. 1) of the trough links M, M and isfed to the fluted drum of the filter cigarette machine serving as amagazine drum. In this case the cigarettes are guided on both sides ofthe trough chain in each case by a guide rail 11, 11' and 12, 12' (Fig.2). Further on the lower run of the chain there is provided in each casean adjustable chain wheel 13, 13' for tensioning the chain.

In one arrangement the cigarettes are ejected alternately in successivetroughs when delivered from the rod to the take-off drum; hence there isonly one cigarette in each trough initially, namely the first in thefront part of one trough and the next in the rear part of the nexttrough and so on. In order to be able to deliver in each case twocoaxilly disposed cigarettes simultaneously and constantly to themagazine drum the chain 1' according to Fig. 4 is deflected in its pathto the magazine drum so far by a chain tensioning wheel 13" that by theelongation of the path when passing on to the magazine drum the troughsof one chain which carry cigarettes are brought into alignment with thetroughs of the other chain which carry cigarettes.

The pitch of the trough chain (Fig. 3), that is the spacing from troughto trough of two successive troughs when in a straight path, is markedT1 while T2 represents the pitch of the fluted drum 4, 4' 5, Le. thespacing between two successive flutes 14 of the drum, measured at thepitch circle. For satisfactory transferring of the cigarettes from thegrooves of the trough chain'to the flutes of the drum the spacing T2 ismade larger to a suitable extent according to the invention than thespacing T1.

As will be seen from Fig. 3 the grooves of the trough chain on runningon to the chain wheel 3, 3' approach the teeth spaces of the discs 4, 4'or the flutes of the drum 5 from above, until the trough bottoms 20' lieat the same level at the flute bottoms 15', and thereby the cigarettesare deposited without disturbance in the grooves 14. Thereafter thebottoms 20 of the troughs are further depressed by about 1 mm. Moreover,the rear wall 16' of the troughs is set back by about 1 mm. behind therear wall 17' of the grooves 14 as seen in the direction of travel onrunning off the drum.

The cigarettes are deposited from the trough chain into the flutes 14 ofthe drum and are axially aligned in these flutes and are no longer incontact with the troughs of the chain.

Since according to the invention the pitch T2 of the flutes of thetoothed discs 4, 4' or of the drum 5 is greater .central drum sectionfrom a magazine not shown, so

that the groups, each of two cigarettes Z, Z with an interposed filterelement 18 and aligned one with the other in their longitudinal axes,can be delivered in their further travel to another drum 22 by fingers20 in known manner, which engage in circular grooves of the fluted drumand by engaging below the cigarettes and filter rods lift these out ofthe flutes. The following drum 22 holds the groups stationary bysuction; no suction is necessary for retaining the groups on the tootheddiscs 4, 4' although protector plates may hold the groups from fallinout.

Ihe lifting of the cigarettes by the grooves of the trough chain out ofthe flutes of the take-ofi drums occurs in like manner to the lifting ofthe cigarettes out of the troughs of the trough chain into the flutes ofthe drum.

it will be observed from Fig. 2 that the drum body 5 is recessed on eachside to accommodate the chain wheels 3, 3' and the toothed discs 4, 4'.The receiving drum body is provided with relatively short central flutes19 to accommodate the mouthpieces 18 and projecting flanges on each sidethereof which are toothed in like manner to the teeth of the discs 4,4', the gaps between the teeth forming flutes to accommodate thecigarettes Z, Z. The discs 4, 4' and the chain wheels 3, 3' areconveniently in the form of annuli bolted to the drum body 5. A similarconstruction may be adopted for the other drum with the chain wheels 2,2' but in this case the flutes 19 need not be provided.

Further the pitch circle of the chain wheels 3, 3"

is substantially smaller than that of the flutes accommodating thecigarettes to allow for the thickness or radial dimension of the troughchain i.e. the distance between the roller components R, R' thereof andthe recessed part forming the trough which accepts the cigarettes. Theupper faces of the trough chain are formed as shown on Fig. 3 with aninclined surface on one side (the leading side) of the trough oppositeto the forwardly directed raised parts 16.

What I claim is:

1. In a device for transferring rod-like articles, a drum having aseries of circumferentially spaced article receiving groves on saiddrum, an endless conveyor chain moving in a path part of which isconcentric to said drum and extends over a part of the peripheralsurface thereof, said drum being provided with an annular recess forreceiving said chain, sprocket teeth on said drum extending into saidrecess, and a plurality of flight elements on said chain having articlereceiving notches adapted to align with the grooves in said annular ribsduring the movement of said chain around said drum.

2. In a device for transferring rod-like articles, a drum, a series ofcircumferentially spaced article receiving grooves on said drumproviding axially spaced sets arranged in axial alignment, said drumbeing provided with an annular recess arranged between said sets ofgrooves between said ribs, sprocket teeth on said drum extendingradially into said recess, an endless conveyor sprocket chain moving ina path part of which is concentric to said drum during its traveltherearound, a series of conveyor flight elements arranged on said chainhaving transverse article receiving notches adapted to align with thegrooves, said flight elements being connected to said chain and arrangedto travel in said annular recess and thereby transfer articles from thechain to the grooves in said drum.

3. In a device for transferring rod-like articles, a drum, a series ofcircumferentially spaced article receiving grooves on said drum arrangedin axially spaced apart sets, said drum being provided with an annularrecess arranged between said sets of grooves, sprocket teeth projectingradially into said recess, an endless conveyor chain trained over saidsprocket teeth to move in a circular path during its travel around saiddrum in a plane ofiset radially inward from the peripheral surface ofsaid drum, a series of flight elements secured to said chain havingarticle receiving notches extending transversely thereof with theircenters spaced a distance slightly smaller than the spacing of thegrooves whereby said flight elements when moving around said drum willbe received in said annular recess such that the articles carriedthereby will be transferred to the grooves in said drum and solelysupported thereby during the remaining travel around said drum.

4. In a device for transferring rod-like articles, comprising a drumhaving a pair of spaced annular fluted portions, said drum beingprovided with an annular recess arranged between said fluted portion,sprocket teeth in said recess, an endless conveyor chain trained oversaid sprocket teeth and movable through said recess during the travel ofsaid chain with said drum throughout a portion of its rotary movement, aseries of conveyor flight elements secured to said chainhavingtransverselyextending article receiving notches adapted to align withthe notches in the fluted portions and means for rotating said drum, thenotches in said flight elements being spaced such that rod-like articlestherein will be deposited in the grooves of the fluted portions duringthe travel of said chain about the axis of said drum with the flightelements moving inwardly within said recess and the articles beingsolely supported in the grooves of said fluted ribs during the travel ofsaid chain in a circular path.

5. In advice for transferring rod-like articles, comprising a pair offluted drums, each of said drums being provided with an annular recessbetween fluted portions of said drum, sprocket teeth extending into eachrecess of each drum, an endless conveyor chain trained around thesprocket teeth of said drums, said chain being arranged to partiallyencircle the drums and extending away therefrom in a rectilinear path, aseries of conveyor flight elements on said chain having transverselyextending notches for receiving rod-like articles, said notches beingadapted to align with the flutes in the drums and said flight elementsbeing arranged to be received in the annular recesses during theirtravel around the periphery of said drums whereby rod-like articles onone drum will be lifted from the flutes thereof into the notches of theflight elements and conveyed by said conveyor chain in a rectilinearpath toward the other drum where said rod-like articles will bedeposited and solely supported in the flutes of the other drum.

6. In a device for transferring rod-like articles, a drum provided withcentral flutes and a fluted flange ring on each side thereof, a sprocketwheel concentric with said drum having a smaller pitch diameter than theflutes on said flange rings, a conveyor chain transversing said sprocketwheel and extending toward and away therefrom so as to encircle part ofits periphery, conveyor flights on said chain having article receivingnotches alignable with the flute elements to permit articles to passsmoothly from one element to the other, and means to rotate the drum andto displace the conveyor chain to elfect displacement of the articles ina path formed in part by the rectilinear path of the chain and in partby the concentric path around the drum, said central flutes beingadapted to accommodate separate articles in axial alignment with otherarticles supported by the fluted flange ring and by the flutes of thetoothed ring.

7. In a device for transferring rod-like articles, a drum having anannular recess, aligned circumferentially spaced article receivinggrooves on both sides of said recess, sprocket teeth in said recess, anendless conveyor chain adapted to be trained over said sprocket teeth,conveyor flight elements on said chain having transverse articlereceiving notches adapted to align with the grooves in said ribs duringtheir travel around a portion of said drum, means for rotating said drumto move said conveyor chain in a circular pathway, said conveyor flightsbeing of such dimensions as to travel in said recess such that theirinner portions lie slightly lower than the bot toms of the grooves insaid ribs during their travel around the axis of said drum.

8. In a conveyor device according to claim 7 wherein each conveyorflight includes an article receiving recess of particular form, having aforwardly directed lip on one side and an inclined surface on theopposite side.

9. A conveyor device according to claim 6 comprising separate chainsarranged on each side of the drum to accommodate separate articlesdisposed on each side of the device.

10. A conveyor device according to claim 6 adapted for systems in whichsuccessive articles are delivered alternately to each side of the devicein staggered relation,

wherein deflector means are provided to impart asymmetry to the paths ofthe two chains so that articles on the two sides of the device on thetwo chains are brought into axial alignment.

11. A conveyor device according to claim 6 wherein the chains aredisposed between two separate drums to one of which the articles are fedin staggered relation and the other receives the articles from thechains for further treatment in axial alignment and adapted to receive afurther article between them so that each group of three articles may bebrought into abutting contact ready for assembly in such alignment.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,422,600 Molins July 11, 1922 1,885,892 Bronander Nov. 1, 19322,109,617 Gwinn et al. Mar. 1, 1938 2,757,778 Lyons Aug. 7, 1956

